3/21/12 Fun and interesting food in Cambodia

Cambodia has many fun and interesting foods!  However, some are definitely an acquired taste!  On the roadside we would see buckets like the ones above with tasty insect snacks.  Some of our team have "iron" stomach's and were able to try these new things!  I have a weak stomach, so couldn't go for the insects, but there are some other delicious things below that I did try!

A new Snack food- high in Protien

Christian, trying Tarantula Snack !

Dessert- balls of rice/mango with coconut milk

Sticky Rice and beans heated in bamboo stick- this one's really good!  We saw these along the roadside near Siem Reap, and Cameron stopped and ordered some for us. 

Fresh Calamari over the grill by the Ocean.

  More pictures to come!!
#ibmcsc  cambodia

Fresh Crab at Sianokville on the ocean

Diago eating Crab

3/13/12 More Highlights from Siem Reap Trip

While in Siem Reap, we also drove to a small village about an hour away and took a boat ride out to the "floating city" on the edge of the large lake Tonle Sap. It was really interesting to see a view of how life in the countryside is. I think it is a hard life for many people, but the people all seem very friendly and the children love to wave and say "Hi" as we pass by in the car or the boat. All the houses are on stilts ( as are many in Cambodia!)  since in the rainy season , the water can raise 10 feet and more.

Village on the drive to the boat.

Children in the Village

 Since it is the dry season now, the water is low and this is also the time that people choose to get married since it is kind of soggy having a wedding party in the rain! On Saturday and Sunday we counted around 15 wedding parties.  The picture below shows a typical set up that we saw both out in the countryside villages and in the cities.  You can always spot the brightly colored tent and hear the fun music several blocks away-  it looked like alot of fun!

 

Wedding Party

The river we went on was about 50 feet wide, so we had a very good view of all the interesting things going on both banks and in the river people mostly are fishing in this area, but they also are farming some of the land.  In the picture below, you can see that in a single canoe, they paddle in the front- just opposite of what I'm used to in a canoe.

In a boat on the river

Pulling fish out of the river with a net

Farming on the banks of the river

The floating village

Getting together in the floating village

We thought it would be challenging be a little kid in the floating village, because when you went out to play with your friends, you'd have to do it in a boat- but kids are adaptable and I'm sure they manged!

More tomorrow about the interesting food, our bike ride in Siem Reap and musical instruments!

Bye for now,
Mary
#ibmcsc cambodia

3/12/12 Adventures in Siem Reap and Ankor Wat !

Elephant Ride at Anchor Wat

Hi Everyone!
Our team had a Wonderful time visiting Siem Reap and Ankor Wat Temples!  We did so many new ,fascinating things, I'll have to spread them out over several postings.

When we came back on Sunday, we had a much better perspective on Cambodian daily life, history and culture and we even did some tourist activities too!   One of my favorite things was the Elephant Ride into the park as we traveled to the first temple in the Ankor Wat complex.  It was a great way to start out the visit to the magnificent area.

CSC team members riding on Elephant to the first temple

Bayon Temple statues

Ankor Wat is the main temple of a 37 sq  mile Complex of Buddhist Temples. The temples are magnificent and  were built around the 12th Century.  The stone work, structures, and  carvings are amazing! The Bayon Temple statues ( picture to the right)are huge- probably rise 50 ft in the air.  It was really hot, but we got an early start in the morning and climbed up to the top of 3 of the structures. No need for the stair master.  We took a break in the middle of the day, and then came back in the evening to see the sun reflecting off of the main structure of Ankor Wat.

Buddhist Monk walking through a Temple

Ankor Wat Main Temple

I picked out just a few of the pictures I took to show you some highlights!  I'm looking forward to visiting the area again in April when David comes back to join me for vacation- there is still so much to see and learn about the temples.

More tomorrow about the trip to the Silk Farm, the boat ride to the floating village, and the "interesting" snack food!
 Bye for now,
Mary Weber
#ibmcsc cambodia

3/7/ 2012 Wed- After several days with our client, NUM

We've had a couple days of being with our client now and I think we are now both understanding what it is that they really want us to work on for the month. I'm working with Elka K from Germany and we are at the National University of Management.  They have ~ 17 K students.  We'll be doing the project planning for a new e-library that they want to develop.  They are doing renovations to their library space and want to have it as a resource that the students will use more and the e-library is an important part of that.

It is always such a delicate time in the beginning to make sure that we are truly understanding each other through language and cultural challenges.  Communications take alot of repetition and patience.  

Our main contact is Mr. Seng Bunthoeun, the Vice Rector.  I showed him my Kindle today so he could get an idea of an example of what is available in ebooks and he was fascinated by it! They have many cellphones, including i phones,  in Cambodia, but very few e-readers.

Tomorrow is holiday in Cambodia, so we will be taking a trip to Siem Reap to see the Ankor Wat temples- so I should have some interesting postings next Sunday when we get back.  I'll try to add some photo's!

A humorous food adventure from today- in our afternoon break, I tried a new drink:  A can of Winter Mellon Soda.  It took me a couple of minutes to recognize the taste, but I thought it tasted just like "sugar on snow" .  However,  my colleague Elka, thought it tasted slightly like old shoe leather!!  So she drank her coffee and I finished my new taste treat!  ( for those of you Texans etal, that don't know what "sugar on snow"is-  when you have the first fresh powder snow you scoop up a bowl of it and drizzle maple syrup over it- it's really nummie!)

Jetlag is catching up with me now, so signing off for tonight.
ttyl, Mary :-)
#ibmcsc cambodia

3/3/12 Saturday- The First Day in Phnom Phen

I made to the hotel on Friday night after 24 hrs of traveling and  had 2 adventures right away on Saturday! Unfortunately, my luggage got left in Soule South Korea- I made the connecting plane in Soule with only 5 min to spare, but  luggage did not.  Luckily, Korean air was very efficient and my 2 bags arrived at the hotel on Sunday morning via motor cycle- It is such a happy feeling when your luggage catches up with you!!

 Adventure #2 was a bike ride @ 7:00 am Saturday with the "Easy Riders". I had my bike helmet in my carry- on (thanks to Steve's excellent advice!!)  so I thought it would be good to go for a bike ride to help get over jet lag.  I was totally unprepared for how wild and crazy the traffic is in the city and it definitely keeps you awake!  There are lots of motor bikes, cars, Tuk,Tuks, and people- mostly everyone goes on the right ,  BUT, not always- some bikes and motor cycle ride in the side lane against the traffic.  So you have very short time to decide how to avoid moving vehicles ahead and behind you. And then there is a person is crossing the street in the middle of all of this.  It is just Crazy in the city!!  For those of you who have been to India, or live in India, my CSC colleague from India, Harinder, says it is much like the traffic there.


But we made it through morning rush hour and headed out a road along the one of the rivers. There were so many interesting things along the route- Wedding and Funeral observances where the brightly colored set up comes right out and takes up 1/2 the road, Buddhist monks walking alongside the road in their orange robes, and most of the houses up on stilts.  Many of the little kids along the roadside waved and said "hello, hello" and we waved back at them. We stopped at a little place for breakfast and had Rice with an egg and strips of pork on top. Had to be careful not to eat the ice though, since we couldn't be sure about the water there. We biked for ~ 3 1/2 hrs and on the way back we decided to take a Tuk, Tuk to avoid the busy traffic in the city.  It was a fascinating way to spend the first morning in Cambodia!

#ibmcsc cambodia

3/1/12: On the Plane to Korea over the Pacific Ocean

Star Date- 3/1/12 7:42pm CT , 8:42am Phnom Pehn

On the Plane to Korea over the Pacific Ocean

Well, I’m really on my way!  The past week has been a whirlwind of finishing packing, finishing up things at work, backing up critical documents, getting final booster shots, celebrating birthdays, talking to family one more time before I leave, and wondering what I’ve forgotten.  It’s been exciting, scary, fun and overwhelming all at the same time!

The journey is 2 plane flights- 12 hrs to Soule South Korea and then 6 hrs to Phnom Pehn,  So far, 5 hrs into the trip it hasn’t been bad.  I’ve mostly slept to try to start changing my sleep schedule.   I think the trip may be somewhat like the 24hrs on the bus to Disney World with the RST High School Panther Band, only with out so many bouncy teenagers to “heard” and jet lag to get over at the other end.

Speaking of jetlag- I will try to get out on a bike ride on Saturday –hopefully that will help get my internal clock reset.  This week-end we also have an orientation and then Monday morning, bright and early, we get to meet our clients!  Looking forward to that!

So I’ll get this posted when I get my internet access up and working at the hotel.  Would love to hear any comments or questions people have since this is my first time Bloging!

More later,

Mary
#ibmcsc cambodia